CRAVINGS

I was struck by a fierce craving today for Olafson's focaccia bread. I can neither get this product in England nor have it sent over and expect it to arrive in anywhere near a consumable condition. Not quite as perishable as sushi, but almost.

I'm still experiencing daily bouts of homesickness and it seems to have spread to craving food from the West Coast as well. The focaccia is weird, as it's not particularly good - rather like the junk version of focaccia - but I've also been craving more reasonable edibles such as Nerds candy and a truly good steak.

I'm missing Big Spaces. If I look out my window, the view of the sky is obscured by buildings rather than mountains. There is 0% chance of me running into anything more wild and crittery in the bushes than a hungover undergrad. There is only marginally greater than 0% chance of me being randomly accosted in the street by a fellow friendly, outgoing person.

Sigh. I know that this, to, shall pass. In the meantime...I want my Canadian Comfort Food!

A VERY SPECIAL MAN

Today is my father-in-law's birthday, and I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what a special person he is, and how important he is in my life.

If I had been asked to sit down and write out a list of qualifications for "ideal father-in-law", Alan would definitely fit the bill. He is supportive and caring, and I know that I could go to him with any problem I might encounter. He gives good advice! He's also funny and can always be talked into going on a trek or adventure. Ray and I are really looking forward to doing some pretty major exploring with him and Joan in the Lake District later this spring when they visit England.

One of the qualities I appreciate most in Alan is his inquisitive-ness. He is always thinking, always asking questions, always solving puzzles. I really admire his quickness of mind and uncanny logic, although it makes him very hard to best in a meeting of the minds! Whenever I'm feeling mentally lazy, I try to make myself approach the world in the way Alan does, with an open mind and a thirst for figuring things out. I've learned an awful lot from him.

I really love how Alan welcomed me into his life with open arms and how he continues to give me his full support today, years later. I know that is pretty rare, and very very special. I am grateful to know Alan and have him in my life as a close family member. It's an honour to be his friend.

So let me wish you a happy, happy birthday, Alan! Ray and I can't wait to celebrate with you and Joan in person in two short months!

BUZZ, BUZZ....

First of all, a quick hello to my cousin Brandi and Auntie Marnie (and Garrett and Uncle Derrick)! Hi guys! Big hugs and a huge hello to Joan as well for leaving another fun comment. I love receiving comments and read them all, even if I don't get around to responding (Bev, I will tell you all about our hotel in Budapest soon!).

And now, a very quick update and an explanation for why I've not been posting...it's been (as usual, these days) a rather hectic week. Since my last post, we attended a birthday dinner (Engineering Claire's), an evening of Olympic watching and a great meal (at Biology Claire's), learned how to give facial/scalp/shoulder massages, spent a day in London, and even found a bit of time in there to sleep (and bake blueberry muffins and chocolate hazelnut bars). Tired yet?!

Thank-you to both Claires for two fun evenings out and two terrific meals. Yum! You can expect Ray and I to invite ourselves over to your abodes more often! Also, big thanks to Tim and Cassandra for being our usual fantastic partners in crime in London. Cassandra and I survived the London Wedding Fair (with disappointingly few Bridezillas in attendance) and the boys spent the day checking out many London attractions like the Museum of Natural History (and the humungous electronics section at Selfridges).

The massages we learned are awesome. Get me to massage your face/scalp/shoulders and I bet I can put you right to sleep. Two more weeks of classes to go and then we will be able to effectively massage just about the entire body, minus any naughty bits.

And now it's off to bed for me. Just re-reading my post has made me realize how tired I am!

ET PHONE HOME

I think I must have mentioned this before, but I really do feel like ET (or a member of ET's bicycle posse) whenever I'm cycling at night. I have the cycle, I have the lights, I have the basket; all I need is an adorable bald alien in said basket to complete the picture. That, and a big spaceship waiting for me at the end of the block.

STONEHENGE

Spurred on by my recent urge to get a set of wheels and get the heck outta Cambridge, we rented a car this weekend and drove down to Stonehenge. It's only a couple of hours away from us and it would have been a shame not to check it out during our time here.

The stones were as impressive as I had heard - although the actual remaining circle was much smaller than I'd expected. I think I'd heard and read so much about Stonehenge as I was growing up that it had achieved gargantuan proportions in my head. But it was beautiful, and moving, and awe-inspiring. I can't quite get my head around the distance that some of the stones were brought (some all the way from Wales) and all the human planning and effort that went into the site.

The following shots are the prerequisite Stonehenge photos, and no they are not postcards. We just took them from the same vantage points that I suspect all the postcards are taken from.

DOES THIS SEEM WRONG TO ANYONE ELSE?

First, an update on the homesickness issue - I'm feeling much better today. It always passes, although it doesn't mean that I miss the West Coast any less.

But now onto much more amusing topics - the scene at lunch today, in a pub in downtown Cambridge. Ray and I were seated across from a family, or what appeared to be a family (two middle-aged blonde parents, with a late-teen blonde daughter and a pre-teen blonde son). Sounds normal, right?

Everything was going fine - i.e., we were all minding our own business, dining with our respective social groups - when I was distracted by a wet smacking sound. The sound was coming from the daughter and son, who were embracing passionately and kissing. I'm not exaggerating about the passionate part - they were MAKING OUT and the parents, seated across from them, did not seem the least bit phased.

I could understand if they were closer in age (and not siblings). But there was no way that the boy was above 10, and the girl was 16+. The crazy behaviour continued throughout the meal; eating interspersed with mad kissing and the odd nipple-pinch/breast rustle. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. And if you think it's inappropriate for me to be relating this tale, then just think how inappropriate it was for this behaviour to occur in the first place.

We left the pub, and the slobbering kids, behind...and I can't say that the intervening hours have allowed me to make any more sense of this behaviour. Can anyone lend some insight?

HOMESICKNESS

Sometimes I am hit with a wave of homesickness so visceral, so fierce, that I can taste it. I can feel the grit on my tongue, the pull in my teeth, the ache in my gums.

I'm never sure when I'm going to feel this way, or what the particular trigger is. Today I was just sitting at my desk, and happened to think back to times when Ray and I could just get in our car and drive to Princeton for lunch, on a whim. We could get out of the city, into the mountains and forest, and just have a mad day to ourselves. Maybe it's knowing that that particular option isn't open to me at this junction that has resulted in me particularly missing "home".

Ray and I have worked very, very hard to make Cambridge and England our home. We've found ourselves a lovely home that we put a lot of care into, we enjoy our school/work, and we've made friends more wonderful people than we ever could have anticipated. But it's still not "home" in the sense that my gut remains loyal to a place thousands of miles to the west.

ROMANCE IS IN THE AIR

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you had a wonderful day with your sweetie; I'm going to sign off the computer and go snuggle up with mine.

(Just for fun, here are a couple of photos from our honeymoon in 2003: the upper photo is in our condominium and the lower is at the Pope Valley Winery in Napa Valley, California)

PAYBACK

I got to leave work 15 minutes early today - ha! It was glorious to leave behind a full office of colleagues (sorry, guys!) and arrive home before the sun had completely set. To everyone who wrote me that they were stuck late on Friday too, I hope you get an early afternoon sometime this week. It's amazing how those few early minutes can feel like a real treat.

DOWN ON THE FARM

It's been another very busy weekend in the Grout household - we spent yesterday morning stimulating the British economy and the afternoon on a lovely field trip outside of the city. Ray took me on a date to see the movie "Proof" (I highly recommend it) on Friday night. And today found us busy around the house (me) or rowing 30km upriver and back for a "jaunt" (Ray). Whew!

The highlight of our weekend was definitely the trip to The Red Lion, a 16th century pub in one of the little villages near Cambridge. It had an open fire and best of all, very very good food. We left the pub happily stuffed and then ventured over to Wimpole Hall, an expansive estate encompassing a grand home (the hall), multiple gardens, and a hobby farm showcasing rare breeds of various livestock. All of the animals were adorable, and we particularly enjoyed the piglets, chickens and kids (only hours old):









Even though it's winter, the grounds were peaceful and I can see how they will be stunning during the warmer months. I can't wait to visit again!

LAST ONE TO LEAVE IS A ROTTEN EGG

Oh poo. I was the last one to leave my office tonight and that, quite frankly, bites. No one should have to be the last one to leave on a Friday night.

I don't mind being the first one to get into work in the morning - it makes me feel smugly virtuous - but there's something about being left behind at the end of the day that makes my toes curl.

VINO!

We just got home from a wine tasting at Darwin College tonight, and it was a fun and informative event. I've been to quite a few wine tastings, and we spent our honeymoon in the Napa Valley (California), so the concept wasn't new to me; however, the format of tonight's event was more formal that I have been used to.

The evening's events started out with all attendees seated at tables with score cards - of various wine characteristics such as appearance, flavour, acidity, and tannins - in front of each place setting. We worked our way through several flights of wine and tried to figure out from which region each originated, how old they might be and which fruits (if any) were represented in the notes. I have to admit that while I was trying hard to learn, the careful order and time taken to work through each wine made the event a little more formal than I would consider ideal. I normally prefer the unsophisticated approach of grabbing a full glass of whatever and thinking, "Yup, tastes like wine to me!"

I REALLY SHOULDN'T BE TELLING YOU THIS...

...but Ray and I have been spending our Wednesday nights attending a university-run massage class. We're learning proper techniques to make hands, feet, limbs, backs, shoulders and heads feel wonderfully relaxed. I have to admit that my favourite part of the class, other than just learning the new techniques, is having Ray practice on me. Tonight our legs are very happy and even having to cycle home after the class couldn't ameliorate all the relaxing effects of the massage.

My coworkers are finding the class a bit of a goldmine because I want to practice on as many people as possible. Tea time has become Massage time at our office, and I'm getting really proficient at this particular set of skills, if I do say so myself. I figure that if I can almost put someone to sleep by massaging their hands for ten minutes I must be doing something right.

What does all this have to do with you? Dear family and friends, I'm happy to practice on you as well! So the next time you see me, remind me that you're sore and could use a little relaxing massage, and I'll do my best to set you right.

ONE MORE SLOW NIGHT

It seems like last night worked - I'm feeling fantastic today. I think a combination of good food, a doting husband and a good night's sleep was just what the doctor ordered.

With that in mind, I'm working on a repeat performance. We've got plans for the rest of the week, so tonight is Relaxation Central in the Grout household. Good night!

SOMETIMES A QUIET EVENING IS REALLY NICE

I am having a guilty pleasures evening. After a hectic week and even busier weekend, I am taking the opportunity to veg out on the couch, read my book, surf the net, and just generally be a blob. No chores need to be done. Ray cooked me a yummy dinner, and even did most of the cleaning up.

I'll be ready for more running about tomorrow, but for tonight this is just wonderful.

BADDA-BING, BADDA-BOOM

I'm back!

Make sure to check down the page as I've filled in some of the missing days/entries from this past week - I've finally had a bit of time to flesh out some of the ideas that I've had squirreled in my head for a few days.

Funny moment of the weekend: I was ID'd yesterday while buying alcoholic coolers on my way to a houseparty. THE DRINKING AGE IN ENGLAND IS EIGHTEEN. It would be indelicate to mention just how many years I am beyond that age, but let's just say I'm a heckuva lot closer to thirty than I am to eighteen.

I told the cashier (I was in a grocery store, no less!) that Canadian ID would have to do, and mentioned that I had been married for over two years. She looked sceptical and I could almost hear her thinking, "sacrificial child bride?", but when my ID checked out she grinned sheepishly and then spent the rest of time it took to run my non-age-restricted good through the till telling me how lucky I am to look so young. I have been hearing this for longer than I care to remember, and it's a sad truth that I am finally getting to an age where it actually is a compliment. Unless, of course, I've forgotten my ID and they won't sell me the darn drinks.

I must be on a bit of a roll, because I was also asked for ID over Christmas, in a pub in Gibsons. Before that incident I hadn't been ID'd in over a year, and had gotten lazy enough about bringing my ID with me to pubs that most of the time I didn't bother. Apparently I'm not out of the woods on that count just yet.

RACE DAY

Ray took up the most Cambridge-y of all Cambridge-y activities last autumn: he joined his college rowing team. He has impressed the socks off of me as he's gone from being a complete rookie to being invited to row on the top men's boat for Darwin College - no mean feat, particularly within the span of only five months.

I have to admit that I think the man is crazy; he voluntarily gets out of his cozy bed when it's completely dark out, pulls on his rowing gear, and cycles off to the river to be in the water at first light. He does this several times a week, and trains on other equipment a further couple of nights. Totally nuts! But he is having a terrific time, and doing something really healthy, and that's all that really matters. That, and the fact that he doesn't demand that I get up at those unseemly hours with him.

Ray had the opportunity to race with the top men's squad today, and I cycled alongside the river to catch the action, cheer him/Darwin on, and to take some photos for ya'll. As far as I'm concerned, the race went pretty well - no one ended up in the water - and I am well on my way to becoming a "rowing wife".



Before the race, at the boathouse. Ray is the blue smudge in the middle.



Ray is still the blue smudge in the middle of the boat. The crew is heading up the river to the starting point of the race.



And they're off! This is actually the only photo I have of them racing, as I was having to cycle madly alongside the river to keep up and there wasn't much opportunity to stop and take photos.



Me being, well, me, I just had to pause and take this shot of a pony pastured next to the river, who seemed to be taking an interest in the proceedings.

Well done, Ray!! I am one awfully proud wife.

OLYMPIC FEVER?

The opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics are not far off, and being in England has given me such a different viewpoint on the games. It seems, oddly enough, that not all the world is as crazy about winter sports as we Canucks are, and in fact not many British people are familiar with the terms "blue line", "luge" and "triple salchow". Heretical but true.

The Brits are not big winter-sport people. Not that it's their fault; as I've mentioned in a past blog entry, there is only one curling rink in the entire south of England, and they have nary a ski hill to practice their slalom or freestyle jumps. No quality pot - apparently - to inspire their snowboarders, should the country have any participants in the sport. And while a certain unsavoury segment of the British population possesses the necessary love of smack-downs, upper-cuts and blood-spillage required to fully appreciate hockey (let there be no "ice" presupposition required!!), the use of padding, helmets and the penalty box renders the sport incomprehensible to them. Those who don't belong to that certain segment of the population just don't get the point of strapping blades onto one's feet to chase, with a curved piece of wood, a small rubber puck around a rink while body-checking one's opponents into the boards. Sigh.

I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that we don't have a television, and are missing out on the commercials, that it seems no one is really getting excited about the Games. A few people I've talked to are looking forward to the ice skating, but this seems to be due to the popularity of a certain reality show called "Skating with Celebrities". Don't even get me started (their slogan is "6 pro skaters. 6 celebrities. Train wreck on ice!"). But no one knows or cares that Canada's hockey teams are going into the games to defend double golds from Salt Lake, and that we have a good chance to medal in many other sports. I know this makes sense seeing as we aren't in Canada, but still. This is important, people!

Luckily, Biology Claire has generously invited Ray and I over to her house, complete with comfy couches and television, to get our fill of winter sport/Olympics. Claire is a particularly good candidate to watch winter sports with because she's from South African and there won't be any teams from her home country to cheer for - she's an automatic Canadian fan (although she's not aware of it yet). I'm looking forward to teaching her the finer points of hockey, and helping her to perfect her "He shoots, he SCORES!!" holler.

ANTI-BLOGGER

I'm having an anti-internet week, and that means I'm also having an anti-blogger week. This is unfortunate because I have so much to write about, most notably our recent trip, but I've just not been able to summon the energy/interest to get around to posting.

Part of the issue is logistics - we've either been out or had friends over every night this week, which leaves blogging to the late hours of the evening. As I'm trying to be better about going to bed at a reasonable hour these days, this sometimes means that blogging loses out in favour of my down pillow. It looks like we have plans for the next three evenings straight as well (hey - what else is there to do if you don't have a gogglebox and you're in the middle of the long dark evenings of winter?) but I should have some time to get the blog updated during the day on Saturday and/or Sunday.

Another diversion is the book I'm currently reading; Kim gave me "Sweetness in the Belly" by Camilla Gibb and it is an excellent book that I'm having trouble putting down (thanks, Kim!). I find myself with a few spare moments and I pick up my book rather than turn on the internet. This makes me literary but unfortunately does not lead to making progress on the blog! I'm anticipating that I will finish the book this weekend, though, which should coincide nicely with me finding some daytime free time in which to blog.

Be back soon!